Benicia council considers more consulting on noise ordinance issue

BENICIA > > The city council will consider spending between $24,600 to $34,540 in order to hire more outside consulting to address the growing debate of noise levels downtown.

The city hired Michael Baker International earlier in the year to examine the “Downtown Mixed-Use Master Plan,” or DMUMP, and how it could be amended to create more vibrancy and attract more visitors.

According to Mario Giuliani, economic development manager for the city, Baker International received between $16,000 and $18,000 for its initial consulting.

In addition to looking at the mixed-use master plan, the council wanted them to study the area’s current noise ordinance, which bars amplified music in outdoor venues past 8 p.m. on weekends.

Jan Lucca, an owner of Lucca Bar & Grill on First Street, has been very outspoken about what he sees as the need for more “excitement” downtown. In his estimation, that means being able to have live bands play in his outdoor beer garden past 8 p.m. Currently the rules are that outdoor amplified music must end by 8, and none whatsoever is allowed on Sundays or holidays.

But some of his neighbors don’t appreciate having to hear the music bounce into their homes every night. At least one resident reported that the bands literally shake the walls of her house.

The city held a community workshop in April to get input on downtown noise from residents and stakeholders.

But in a report to the council by interim Community Development Director Shawna Brekke-Read, after examining the noise ordinance, the consultant soon found that there was a problem.

“It became clear that the Noise Ordinance and the General Plan addressed noise differently and it would be a challenge to find the new DMUMP regulations consistent with the current general plan.”

All things must flow from the general plan, said Giuliani, so even though the DMUMP is its own separate plan in theory, the noise ordinances should be consistent with both the main general plan, the downtown mixed-use plan, and zoning laws.

“All should work in harmony together,” he said.

But loud, amplified harmonizing is the crux of the issue, and aligning all plans will be complicated. Hence the need for more consulting, said Giulini.

Proponents of outdoor music like Lucca want the downtown to be a bustling area with sights and sounds similar to any city — and that means live music — and opponents say that residents’ right to peace and quiet during certain hours should be respected.

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Lucca recently posted on the Benicia Happenings Facebook page about the city spending more money on a consultant for this issue, and he found agreement in the comments that followed.

“The council should suck it up and make a decision without further expense to the taxpayers,” he told the Times-Herald.

“The city is not in good financial condition. Additional money spent on this issue is a waste of taxpayer money. Take the extra 34 thousand and pave a street.”

But Giuliani said that in the long run, hiring an outside expert to handle things like this saves time and money for the city, pointing out that currently there are vacancies in the planning department including director, senior planner, and principal planner.

“There’s two reasons hiring a consultant makes sense,” he said. “First, there’s the subject of expertise. You could be skilled to do a certain thing, but there are going to be times where you are going to need, say, an architect, or a person who has looked at other jurisdictions and knows what they have done and can bring that value. Second, there’s a ‘bandwidth,’” he said, referring to number of staff on board already who are stretched thin. “We don’t have the ability to send them off on a major research project.” Michael Baker International said it has proposed a more comprehensive study this time that will look into best practices from other communities, “including considerations for the effect of amplified music on downtowns and economic activity,” according to the report Brekke-Read provided the council.

Michael Baker has also offered to spearhead an additional community workshop for more local input as well as a noise measurement study. The question of how to accurately measure decibels, when buildings, ambient noise, and other factors can make noise vary greatly has been a constant issue at council meetings.

For example, Jan Lucca came to the council in early summer to request a temporary lifting of the noise ordinance so that he could have outdoor music longer on the weekends, and the council approved it but told him that he could not exceed 70 decibels. Lucca then rejected the offer, saying that it wasn’t possible to stay below 70. Councilmember Steve Young then countered with an offer to negotiate 75, and Lucca again said no.

Lucca says he took a measurement of the crowd in his beer garden without any music playing and he got readings between 77 and 86 alone.

“Virtually any band I had would be in violation of 70,” he said.

Should the council approve continuing on with Michael Baker on Tuesday, the firm has laid out an ambitious calendar that shows them bringing their findings to the planning commission by December and to the council by January for adoption.

No matter the outcome, there will be people on either side that will no doubt feel disappointed.

“I don’t think there’s going to be an answer that will please everybody,” said Giuliani.

The Benicia City Council meets to discuss this issue on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in council chambers, 250 E “L” Street.